Considering the continued threats facing indigenous peoples living in voluntary isolation and initial contact, and given their unique vulnerability in the time of the pandemic, the Permanent Forum recommends that local populations in the territories and adjacent areas of indigenous peoples living in voluntary isolation and initial contact be prioritized in COVID-19 vaccination plans. The Forum reminds States that, by virtue of their international obligations, and specifically those contained in the American Convention on Human Rights, they must adopt measures to safeguard the life and integrity of their citizens, especially when it comes to highly vulnerable population groups, as in the case of indigenous peoples living in voluntary isolation and initial contact.
The Permanent Forum decides to appoint as Special Rapporteur Ms Tonya Gonnella Frichner, a member of the Forum to conduct a preliminary study on the impact of the international legal construct known as the Doctrine of Discovery on Indigenous Peoples that has served as the foundation of the violation of their human rights and to report thereon to the Forum at its ninth session, in 2010.
The Permanent Forum encourages APG to continue to give priority to its endeavours to eliminate the servitude and contemporary forms of slavery to which families and communities in Santa Cruz, especially in Alto Parapetí, and in Chuquisaca, are subjected. The Permanent Forum encourages APG, as the organization that represents the Guaraní people in the Plurinational State of Bolivia, to continue to give priority to combating these extremely serious human rights violations as part of its broader programme of reconstitution of the Guaraní people.
The Permanent Forum recommends that donors, including the European Union, the European Commission, the Department of State of the United States of America, human rights support organizations and others provide long-term funding, legal aid and other resources to assist indigenous human rights defenders, their families, networks and communities.
The Permanent Forum urges States that have not yet done so to ratify the Convention of the Rights of Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families.
The Permanent Forum recommends that the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination elaborate a general comment on discrimination in housing, taking into account the situation of indigenous peoples.
In this regard, the Forum invites the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to pay special attention to the situation of indigenous peoples and address these issues in accordance with their mandates. The Forum recommends that IOM and UNHCR develop specific guidelines on indigenous migrants and to actively participate in the Inter-Agency Support Group on Indigenous Peoples’ Issues.
The Permanent Forum urges the international community to pay particular attention to the situation of the Batwa peoples, in particular Batwa women, and to support the inclusion of the San people and other indigenous groups in the national census. The Permanent Forum urges African States and their international development partners to review the poverty reduction strategy papers and other frameworks for integrating the specificities of such indigenous peoples as the Batwa, Pygmies, Touaregue, Amazigh, Khoisan and other hunter-gatherers or nomadic peoples in their countries, both in Central and in Southern Africa.
The Permanent Forum urges the Republic of Paraguay to take urgent action to implement the resolutions of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights concerning communities that are experiencing major humanitarian crises.
The Forum recommends that all Member States, with the assistance of United Nations agencies, as necessary develop capacity-building programs, including curricula that have a strong human rights focus, including collective rights of indigenous peoples, across the spectrum of national educational institutions
The Permanent Forum calls upon the parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity to adopt the terminology “indigenous peoples and local communities” as an accurate reflection of the distinct identities developed by those entities since the adoption of the Convention almost 20 years ago.
In order to protect the human rights of indigenous peoples, the Forum recommends that States create indigenous ombudsmen offices, especially for indigenous women, ensuring the full and effective participation of indigenous women